Violation of Patent Rights and an Important
Treaty

Updated Nov. 19, 2004 12:01 a.m. ET

The claim by Thomas Goodness ("Patent Law Doesn't Bar Re-Importation of Drugs," Letters, Oct. 28) that "under the first sale doctrine, a patented item, once sold, may be re-sold without infringing the patent" isn't legally correct. While true for a product sold and then re-sold in the same country (and under the same patent), it is inapposite for a product sold in Canada, and then re-sold in the U.S. The U.S. Supreme Court held in 1890 that a lawful sale of a product in one country and then importation and sale of that same product in the U.S., constituted infringement of the corresponding U.S....